Of Akatsuki Campfires And Memories Long Past
by Raikiri-no-Jutsu
Summary: Pein has been nice enough to let the Akatsuki take a holiday! But what will we learn about their past lives when they are all seated around a campfire?


**Of Campfires and Memories Past**

The many members of Akatsuki were sitting in the rooms of their hideout, all equally as bored as the other.

Deidara was moulding playdough into small birds and spiders, and making them fly all around his room. Sasori, his roommate, eyed them apprehensively, in case they exploded; Deidara liked explosions.

Sasori, however, was upgrading his puppets, literally drenching them in poison and chloroform. The chloroform was Deidara's idea. He said it would make killing the enemy quicker. Sasori had to agree; he hated making people wait.

"Hey, Sasori-Danna?"  
"Yes Deidara?"  
"Can I ask you something, hmm?" The blonde tilted his head to the side slightly. Sasori looked at him.  
"This better not be about art, I'm not in the mood for arguing." he grumbled. Sometimes the arguments about art could take _hours_.

"Nah, it isn't, hmm. When was the last time us Akatsuki took a break from killing people and extracting Bijuu?" Deidara was sitting on his bed filing his nails. They had to be perfect; nail polish layers even, no chips or scratches, the curve at the right angle. Dei was the "beauty king" of the Akatsuki.

Sasori stared at Deidara as if he had grown another head.

"'Took a break?' Deidara, Akatsuki don't _take _breaks."  
"Why not, hmm?"

"I…uh….." Sasori wanted to explain, the trouble was, he didn't know. Why _didn't _the Akatsuki have holidays?

They sat there in silence, contemplating this. Sasori finished improving his puppets, snapping the arm of the last one into place. Deidara spent another twenty minutes laying on nail polish so that none of the fleshy colour of his fingers shone through. The silence wove itself around the two team-mates. It was so peaceful, so quiet. It was the sort of atmosphere Sasori liked best.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to last.

The door flung open.

Deidara fell off his bed in surprise.

Sasori spun round wildly to face the intruder.

Tobi was standing there, excitement radiating off of him. He was shaking, and panting slightly.

Deidara however, was livid. His hair was a mess after falling. His teeth ground together angrily. The playdough birds exploded above them, creating a smoky fog that smelt of gunpowder. Sasori coughed.

"Tobi….I am going to KILL YOU!!"  
Poor Tobi looked hurt. His small frame slumped slightly, the happy aura diminished.

"But sempai…..why? What did Tobi do to upset Deidara-sempai?"

Sasori sighed inwardly. Tobi was annoying, not to mention dumb. He glanced sideways at his team-mate, who screamed in rage and flung himself at the orange masked idiot standing in the doorway.

"THREE HOURS! THREE BLOODY HOURS, HMM! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO GET MY HAIR PERFECT?? THE STUPID STRAIGHTNERS BARELY WORK!"

Deidara clawed at Tobi, who had his arms flung up to protect himself.

"Ahh!! Ahh!! Tobi is sorry! Tobi is sorry! It isn't Tobi's fault Kakuzu-san is so stingy as to not pay the electricity bill!"

Sasori got up and pried Deidara off of Tobi. Dei panted. The one thing he wanted most was for Tobi to die, and Deidara desperately wanted to be the one to do it.

"So why are you here Tobi? I do hope, for your sake, that it isn't about dinner or anything else to do with cooking. Those last muffins you made were _horrible_." Sasori eyed the swirled pattern of Tobi's mask, behind which was his face. Tobi sweatdropped and looked hurt again. He rubbed the back of his neck with a hand, showing nervousness and embarrassment. The puppet-master could practically see the boy turning red.

"It wasn't Tobi's fault, Sasori-san……Tobi thought the recipe meant _real_ flowers. Zetsu-san didn't speak to Tobi for a week after…" Tobi trailed off, apparently remembering the look on his room-mate's face when he had presented him with a flat muffin which had leaves sticking out of it.

"……..You still haven't answered my question, Tobi-kun." Sasori didn't like waiting. He was starting to get ticked off. Tobi brightened up considerably as he recounted what he had come to tell.

"Leader-sama says we're all going on holiday!!"  
Deidara had been drinking a glass of water to calm him down; he spat it out in shock.

"What?? He actually said-? Wow….and here I thought he was a slave-driver, hmm."

Sasori could tell Tobi was beaming under the mask.

"Leader-sama says everyone's got to be ready and packed in half an hour and meet in the west living room!" Tobi happily exclaimed as he ran out of the door, leaving Sasori and Deidara standing in bemused silence. But the silence was again short lived.

"OMG I GOTTA PACK!!!! HMM!" 

"Itachi-san, can Tobi come in?"  
"I'm busy, Tobi."  
"Aww...please!"

An irritated sigh came from the room. Footsteps could be heard behind the door. Tobi hummed to himself and rocked backwards and forwards on his heels as he heard the sound of many locks being unlocked. The door opened to reveal Itachi standing, wearing what looked like an apron. Tobi stared at it, and then glanced behind Itachi. Kisame was sitting, cross-legged on his bed, sniffing slightly. He seemed to have been crying a few minutes ago.

"Um…..does Tobi want to know what-?" His sentence was cut off by Itachi, whose expression was one of utmost rage.

"Blame Kisame. He simply refused to take his medicine today." At this, Kisame turned away, still sniffling to himself. Tobi looked quizzically at Itachi, silently asking if he could enter the room. The Uchiha made a face and stepped aside.

"Kisame-san?? Are you feeling ok today?" The good boy bent down to look at the shark-man's face.

"'M fine." he mumbled. Tobi gasped.  
"He can talk again! Kisame-san can talk again! Tobi is so happy for Itachi-san and Kisame-san!" Itachi had thrown away the apron with a look of disgust.

"I presume you are here for a reason that is of greater importance than simply to check if Kisame was feeling any better?" Tobi smiled behind his mask and nodded enthusiastically.

"All the Akatsuki are going on holiday! Leader-sama said so!"  
The two were taken thoroughly aback.

"A holiday?" Itachi shot a slightly worried glance at his partner. "Are you sure Kisame'll be up to it? I'm not sure the stress would be good for him in this state…"

The shark-like man grumbled and muttered that he would be fine. Tobi smiled and told them they had to be ready in half an hour.

Something that sounded like arguing was coming from this room. Tobi gulped and reached for the door handle, but he could hear smashing sounds. He quivered in fear and scribbled a quick note. His hand slid it underneath the door before he knocked and quickly fled. 

"Tobi? What a surprise! What is it?"  
A rather pretty young woman glanced rather happily and confusedly at the boy. Tobi grinned and gave her a hug.

"Kaa-san, we're going on holiday!"  
Konan blinked a few times. "Are you sure Tobi?"  
He nodded. "Mmhmm!! Leader-sama said so!" The blue-haired girl looked thoughtful as Tobi recounted this information to her.

"…….Wow……Pein _actually_ agreed to it……" she smiled, closing her eyes as she did so. "Well done Tobi, mission 'Get bad-tempered Leader to let us take a break' is complete."  
"Yaaay!! Tobi do good?" The boy asked, tilting his masked head to the side and looking up at Konan, still hugging her. She returned the hug.

"Tobi do VERY good. When are we leaving?"  
"Leader-sama says we've all got to be packed in half an hour and in the west living room!"   
Konan took a minute to take this in. Her dark blue eyes glanced apprehensively at the clock. Tobi was still radiating happiness. She stood up.

"Half an hour……Tobi, what time did you ask him?"

"Hmmmm……about 2:30. Why?"  
Konan's jaw dropped in horror.

"It's ten to three. We have ten minutes to be ready…" She immediately started getting clothes out of her wardrobe and flinging them onto her bed, where Tobi was sitting.

"I'll go tell Zetsu-san then, will I?"  
"Yeah, you do that Tobi. Where the hell are my straightners??"

"Zetsu-saaaaaan!! We're going on holiday! You've gotta be packed in ten minutes and in the west living room!!" Tobi shouted at the door, not even bothering to go in. He didn't need to. His own suitcase was packed anyway.

Zetsu opened the door. "What? Holiday? Leader-san? _I think he's finally lost his mind._ Shut up. Really, though, we're actually going on holiday? _That's what he said, idiot. _I thought I told you to shut up! _Nyeah…_"

Tobi was used to this arguing. Everyone in Akatsuki was. He walked past the plant-man to his own bed, which had orange coloured pillows, blankets and sheets. Between it and the wall, was a small modern-ish suitcase, orange of course. Tobi grabbed the extendable handle, let it click into place and dragged it out of the room.

Smiling happily again, he started singing to himself as he made his way to the west living room.

"_We're all goin' on a, summer holidayy, no more workin' for a, week or two…" _From there, he simply whistled the tune, not knowing the rest of the words.

The passages were long and dark…

**  
Hello again! Raikiri here. Sorry about not updating OMG, Our Sensei's A Chibi, I've been literally snowed under with homework. You see, I've just entered 3****rd**** year at my school (which is something like 10****th**** grade for all you American folks) and I'll be doing exams next year, so…….  
ANYWAY. Cookies to who can guess what Kisame's suffering from (Which you'll NEVER get in a million years unless you're one of my friends from school) and/or which Akatsuki members are arguing and scare Tobi to the point of pants-wetting.  
Tobi: I don't wet the bed!  
I didn't say you do.  
Tobi: Hmph! (goes in huff) **

**(Rolls eyes) Review please!!**


End file.
